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Allen & Overy responds to reports of harassment and discrimination claim
Global firm A&O has issued a response to reports that a former employee made a complaint to the Luxembourg Bar Association, claiming she was discriminated against in the workplace.
Jerome Doraisamy
Last week, UK-based legal media reported that an unnamed associate, who was supposedly dismissed from her role in the middle of last year, alleging that a senior lawyer have removed her from work assignments in order to “isolate and silence” her, which resulted in an internal investigation.
In a statement provided to Lawyers Weekly, a spokesperson for A&O said: “After certain complaints were made in a letter to the firm last year, a detailed and independent investigation was conducted by a senior member of the HR team within the A&O network.
“We were unable to substantiate the allegations and found no evidence of the alleged discrimination or harassment. We have taken these complaints extremely seriously, as we would any concerns of this nature.”
This matter follows recent news that a DLA Piper partner had alleged, in an open letter and regulatory filing, that a co-managing partner of the firm has sexually assault her on multiple occasions.
The partner who wrote the open letter, Silicon Valley-based Vanina Guerrero, asked the firm’s co-chairs to be voluntarily released from mandatory arbitration, as “no female working at DLA Piper, whether she works as an administrative assistant, paralegal, departmental staff employee, associate lawyer, contract lawyer, of counsel lawyer, contract partner or equity partner should be forced to litigate claims involving sexual assault and battery or sexual harassment by male lawyers in secret.”
Jerome Doraisamy
Jerome Doraisamy is the editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He has worked at Momentum Media as a journalist on Lawyers Weekly since February 2018, and has served as editor since March 2022. In June 2024, he also assumed the editorship of HR Leader. Jerome is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in NSW, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.
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